The organic KF Farm in Johor Bharu, Malaysia has been identified by the Dutch government’s acting economic and agricultural representation in the ASEAN region as a potential benchmark and example project for organically grown vegetables and fruit by using Dutch smart farming techniques, practices and technologies.

KF Farm is established with the aim to deliver healthy, quality organic vegetables, using organic/sustainable methods, which are affordable to the community and to make organic farming more viable in order to influence farmers to practice the same and contribute to the community. KF farm is owned by KF Wholesale Sdn Bhd (KF) which is one of the leading suppliers of premium quality vegetables for Johor Bahru’s food service & retail industry having its operation outlet in Suppliers’ Mart (S’MART) Johor Bahru. S’MART is the first privatized cash ‘n’ carry farmers’ market in Malaysia since year 1999 and has the same management as KF Wholesale.

Last week, Aart van den Bos (Verbos) and myself paid a very successful visit to KF Farm. We conducted a “360-view” assessment and report on KF Farm’s business activities covering the entire value chain with the aim to define the current and desired situation (KF farm’s ambitions and priorities) and to propose an Improvement and Investment Program. The follow-up of this Quickscan will be a feasibility study. For this we are looking for Dutch companies that are interested in doing business in Malaysia and are able to contribute to organic/sustainable farming.

Crucial is the involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture of Malaysia at an early stage as the final aim is regional and national development of the sector (e.g. policy, regulations, subsidies and certification) as well as the involvement of local knowledge institutes for capacity building and research and development. Therefore, a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) including representatives of Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) and myGAP and myOrganic was setup in order to align our activities to government goals and to discuss opportunities for collaboration.

Herewith also many thanks to Louis Beijer (Counsellor for Agriculture | Accredited to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore), the Dutch Embassy in Singapore (Robbin Mulder and Lisa Teo-van Kuijk), the Dutch Embassy in Malaysia (Li Huan) and KF Farm who supported our mission.

On Wednesday 10 April during the trade mission led by Prime Minister Rutte, Minister van Nieuwenhuizen and Vice-Minister Sonnema to Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Nhu Cuong – Acting General Director of Crop Production Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Mr. Henk van Eijk – Chairman of the Vietnam Netherlands Horti Business Platform signed a Memorandum of Understanding to express their intent to cooperate together as to benefit from each other’s complimentary expertise in the horticultural sector. The signing ceremony took place during the Holland Trade Networking Lunch in Hanoi in the presence of potential Dutch and Vietnamese members: KP Holland, Onings Holland Flowerbulbs, Wageningen Food and Biobased Research, Kenlog b.v., VinEco, LAVIFOOD ISC, Nafoods Group JSC, HADICO, Thien Dieu and VNUA.

Cooperation model

The prospective Vietnamese and Dutch members of the Platform, participating in a cooperative association U.A., are developing a cooperation model with the aim:

to produce safe and healthy food by applying smart farming, such as pest and disease management and cultivation techniques to protect the soil and groundwater conditions or restore and rehabilitate soil and water resources for agricultural use;

to shorten the food supply chain in order to secure ultra-fresh, safe produce for consumers and minimizing waste;

to increase the revenue and profit margins for (small) farmers by minimizing waste and losses of fresh produce.

This model will use proven and innovative technologies and the knowledge and experience of the members of the Platform, covering all stages of the entire supply chain, such as propagation materials, greenhouse equipment and technology, sustainable energy and water management, cultivation methods and techniques for greenhouses and open field, climate control and post-harvest management.

Efficient agro-food supply chains

‘Many of the Vietnamese partners are looking for a concept that offers them tools to develop their agro-food supply chain as efficient as in the Netherlands. The Platform can offer Vietnamese partners tailor-made and comprehensive supply chain solutions from the initiation of projects, to the implementation and upscaling. Strategic business planning, market analysis, agro-logistics planning, hardware installation, improved starting material, post-harvest technology, research, and much more can be made available through the members of the Platform; generally each individual organization could only offer some of these services. By joining forces the Platform can offer a complete ‘supply chain package’ and therefore respond much better to the specific needs of the Vietnamese partners.‘ explains Heike Axmann from Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (part of Wageningen University & Research), one of the founding members of the Platform.

Field visit to VinEco

On Friday 12 April, Kenlog as initiator of the Platform organised a field trip to VinEco for the companies with a focus on the agri- and horticulture sector. VinEco is one of the potential Platform members and is a subsidiary of the Vingroup. VinEco cultivates for the domestic market safe and high quality products including fresh vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, flowers and medicinal plants at farms located throughout Vietnam. The fresh produce is sold via their own distribution channels and outlets, named VinMart (supermarkets), VinMart+ (convenience stores) and Adayroi (online sales).

On the 2ndof February 2019 AgroFreshPark Holding B.V. and Blue Fifty B.V. officially registered in the Court of Łódź, Poland AgroFreshPark sp. z o.o. This limited liability company shall act as the operational entity for the development, building and operation of the first AgroFreshPark in Central Poland.

AgroFreshPark sp. z o.o., together with a group of selected partners, took the initiative to prepare a development plan for AgroFreshPark Łódzkie, a fresh food business park in the heart of Poland. The partners, together with other qualified partners, have the ambition to develop and build a fresh food business park according to the so-called cluster concept. In 2019/2020 the first ready to build plots should be offered to Polish and international companies, directly or indirectly related to fresh food production, processing and distribution.

Why Poland?

The Polish domestic market for food products is very attractive. Poland is one of the fastest growing countries in the EU since its accession to the European Union and they also demonstrated to have a responsible, reliable and resilient economy during the financial crisis. Its macroeconomic situation is stable and the success of the recent years is well founded on robust domestic demand. Poland will become, together with the Netherlands, Spain and France, one of the major food production, processing and trading economies within the European Union, particularly its dominant position in Central and Eastern Europe forms a strong foundation.

A FreshPark, AgroPark and ServicePark section

AgroFreshPark Łódzkie will form a “transit hub” between the Netherlands, Poland and Central and Eastern Europe, but also will play an important role in the “local-for-local” market. The proposed concept is based on the “Greenport” model, successfully developed and implemented in the Netherlands. Benchmark projects in the Netherlands are Fresh Park Venlo and Agriport A7. AFPL’s ambition is to develop and build during the first phase (2019 – 2021) 10 hectares of industrial area for fresh food business (FreshPark section) and 40 hectares for greenhouse developments for horticultural production (AgroPark section). At later stages AFPL will develop another 40 hectares for business parks and 160 hectares for greenhouses.

https://kenlog.nl/cms18/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/7308-AgroFreshPark-logo-met-slogan.png131300Laura Rietdijkhttps://kenlog.nl/cms18/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/logo-kenlog.pngLaura Rietdijk2019-02-15 14:44:202019-02-15 14:52:01A legal vehicle for the first AgroFreshPark in Poland has been officially registered

On the 19th of December a signing ceremony took place at the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam in The Hague, the Netherlands, during which a group of Dutch companies and institutions formally established The Netherlands Vietnam Horticulture Platform.

Members within this platform will strengthen their capacities and capabilities in order to provide knowledge, expertise and investments for the further development of the whole supply chain including seed breeding, crop cultivation, greenhouse and technology supply, post-harvest management, trading, logistics, design and engineering.

During this ceremony the Ambassador, H.E. Mrs Ngo Thi Hoa, expressed her full support and with the assistance of Mr Nguyen Hai Tinh, the economic counsellor of the Embassy, the first contacts have already been established with Vietnamese counterparts.

Singapore imports 90% of its food – a sustainable solution was launched at CleanEnviro Summit Singapore.

Infrastructure construction company HSL and Dutch consortium Urban Farming Partners formally marked their partnership at the Singapore International Water Week, the World City Summit and the CleanEnviro Summit in Singapore. The two partners will develop an urban farm in Singapore. This farm will be located inside the premises of HSL at the waterfront at Penjuru Road, opposite Jurong Island. Urban Farming Partners is a consortium with expertise in various aspects of indoor growing concepts, from growing and logistics to marketing and urban planning. The aim of the cooperation is to produce vegetables for the local market in a sustainable manner.

About 10% of the food that is consumed in Singapore is produced locally. The Singapore Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) supports and encourages initiatives that contribute to a higher level of self-sufficiency in greens. With the industry of indoor farming still in its infancy, Urban Farming Partners chooses to engineer the farm backwards, starting with the demand and making sure the technologies applied are in line with local consumer trends. Moreover, solutions from the circular economy concepts will be applied, such as the use of solar energy, rain water and by-products of neighbouring companies, like CO2 and residual cooling.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the chairman of the Centre for Liveable Cities, Mr Khoo Teng Chye, Mr Ahmed Aboutaleb, mayor of the city of Rotterdam, and H.E. Ms Margriet Vonno, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

https://kenlog.nl/cms18/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/B-111_klein.jpg427640Mirjam Boekestijnhttps://kenlog.nl/cms18/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/logo-kenlog.pngMirjam Boekestijn2018-07-13 10:54:042018-07-13 12:49:24HSL and Urban Farming Partners team up for sustainable local greens

VinEco, a member of the Vingroup, currently had 14 farms with 3,000 hectares of agriculture land throughout Viet Nam. VinEco cooperates with Kenlog to improve post-harvest management at their farms. The key products include fresh fruits and vegetables, produced adheres to the highest qualifications of the VietGAP (Viet Nam Good Agriculture Practices) certification, and distributed via VinCommerce’s expansion of modern retail network with more than 1,000 stores in Viet Nam in 2017 and this amount will be 2,000 stores in 2018.

Kenlog is a Dutch company, facilitating the development, coordination and implementation of improvement processes for international agricultural projects. The company, together with a network of specialized partners, provides services for the complete horticultural supply chain.

Kenlog signed an agreement with VinEco Agricultural Investment, Development and Productions LLC for carrying out study covering the whole supply chain from production, post-harvest management till market distribution. Kenlog shall advise VinEco in their supply of a diverse group of fruits and vegetables with the highest qualifications to the domestic and international market. In addition Kenlog shall provide VinEco with improvement plans for operation and post-harvest management, ensuring the enhancement of product quality and shelf life, minimizing manpower cost while maximizing environment-friendly practices.

The Dutch public-private partnership Urban Farming Partners (UFP) signed a cooperation agreement with Citizen Farm on the 19th of January. UFP teams up with this local champion in the grow-your-own-food movement to develop a smart and sustainable urban farm in Singapore.

Urban Farming Partners are experts in food, logistics and urban planning and supported by the Dutch government. They team up with local partner Citizen Farm to develop and run the future operation of an integrated urban commercial farm in Singapore. Citizen Farm focuses on developing productive food gardens in tropical Singapore for clients like restaurants, schools, hotels, and residences. They aim to make the city more self-sufficient by growing food in underutilised spaces like rooftops, under viaducts, and everywhere in between.

The coming months, the partners shall take more major steps in making the integrated urban farm a reality.

During the 3rd annual Indoor AG Con Asia on January 16 – 17 in Singapore, the Netherlands highlighted its strengths in modern indoor agriculture. Concepts in sustainable, smart indoor farming from the Urban Farming Partners attracted visitors’ attention. Its flagship, the 3D printed scale model of the 101 Experience Tower, was an eye catcher. Especially the aspects of production close to the consumer, using high-yield technologies and an integrated food chain approach that increases food security contrast many current practices.

During a presentation on what can Asia’s indoor agriculture industry learn from Holland’s approach, Nienke Gelderloos highlighted the Dutch way of collaboration with clusters and cooperatives, multidisciplinary problem solving and smart solutions around water. Nienke is policy advisor agriculture at the Netherlands embassy in Singapore as well as liaison manager for Urban Farming Partners.

AgroFreshPark, a Poland based development initiative, signed on the 10th of January 2018 a cooperation agreement with Europejskie Centrum Gospodarcze (ECG) at the main Fruit and Vegetable Industry Fair in Poland, the TSW 2018, for the development of the first agrifoodcluster in Poland.

The three initiators and main shareholders of AgroFreshPark are Greenport Company, Kenlog b.v. and Blue Fifty, three companies with a track record in fresh food and flower logistics, real estate development and trade and utility management. They have been working together for the last three years to convert the Dutch “greenport” model into an efficient and effective production, logistic and trading structure for the fast developing Polish agri-food sector.

Europejskie Centrum Gospodarcze (ECG) is a Polish production, processing and international trading company of agricultural products and will, as part of the agreement, act as regional partner for the development.

AgroFreshPark is considered to be the first agrifood cluster of its kind in this part of Europe and shall be situated in Central Poland within the Łódzkie Region. Therefore, this agrifood cluster shall use the name AgroFreshPark Łódzkie. The strong growth of the Polish agricultural exports creates additional opportunities for both Dutch and Polish companies. AgroFreshPark Poland shall be a balanced import and export trading platform for the two countries.

AgroFreshPark Łódzkie shall consist of three related but functionally, different sections, i.e. the Fresh Park, a business park for transport/logistics (cross-docking), trade, packaging and processing of fresh produce, the Agro Park, an area reserved for large-scale greenhouse production with all the supporting infrastructure, and a Services Park, providing facility management, utilities, training and educational services, estate management, research, demonstration and promotion of technology, IT services and specific financial services.

AgroFreshPark earlier entered into cooperation agreements with Certhon and Jaksa for the engineering and construction of the greenhouses.

https://kenlog.nl/cms18/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IMG_2969.jpg12001600Mirjam Boekestijnhttps://kenlog.nl/cms18/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/logo-kenlog.pngMirjam Boekestijn2018-01-16 14:19:102018-01-16 15:54:13AgroFreshPark Łódzkie signs cooperation agreement with Europejskie Centrum Gospodarcze for the development of the first agrifoodcluster in Poland